Construct a Scatter Plot in Easy Steps

Construct a Scatter plot: Overview

A scatter plot gives you a visual idea of what is happening with your data. Scatter plots are similar to line graphs. The only difference is a line graph has a continuous line while a scatter plot has a series of dots. Scatter plots in statistics create the foundation forsimple linear regression, where we take scatter plots and try to create a usable model using functions. In fact, all regression is doing is trying to draw a line through all of those dots!

Scatter plot. Photo credit: Skbkekas|Wikimedia Commons.

Watch the video or read on below:

If you want to construct a scatter plot by hand, read on for the steps. However, if you have access to some kind of technology (like Excel), it’s much easier! Follow a link to make a:

Construct a Scatter plot: Steps

Sample question: create a scatter plot for the following data:

x

y

3

25

4.1

25

5

30

6

29

6.1

42

6.3

46

Step 1:Draw a graph. Label the x- and y- axis. Choose a range that includes the maximums and minimums from the given data. For example, our x-values go from 3 to 6.3, so a range from 3 to 7 would be appropriate.

Great example that makes it easier to understand the Scatter Plot. I love these because you can make sense of data that might otherwise be hard to see a pattern in! I absolutely love plots and graphs and visualization of data.